Costa has unveiled its festive food and drink menu for 2023, and it’s absolutely packed full of indulgent goodies to get you properly get you in the Christmas spirit.
The popular coffee shop chain is known and loved for its limited-edition seasonal menus each year, and now, with the countdown to the big day officially on, Costa has given fans what they’ve been waiting for as it’s unveiled its festive food and drink offering for 2023 – with a whole host of brand-new treats, as well as some returning fan favourites on the lineup.
This year, the star of the show this year has to be the Sticky Toffee Latte, which is inspired by the nation’s favourite pudding and turns it into a winter-warming drink.
Also available as an iced version, the Sticky Toffee Latte features a yummy sticky toffee-flavoured sauce, topped with Light Whip, drizzled with even more sauce, and finished with a sprinkling of bronze shimmery angel-like dusting.
ADVERTISEMENT
Costa has unveiled its Christmas food and drink menu for 2023 / Credit: Costa
Also new to the festive drinks offering this year is the Roasted Hazel Latte and Roasted Hazel Hot Chocolate, which are both made with flavourful roasted hazelnut syrup, topped with Light Whip, and completed with a beautiful bronzed shimmer and mini gold stars.
Other festive drinks on the menu this year include the comebacks of the much-loved Black Forest Hot Chocolate, and the Gingerbread & Cream Latte, which are both Costa classics at this point, and are set to be on the menu a little earlier than the rest to usher in the seasonal spirit.
ADVERTISEMENT
The Terry’s Chocolate Orange Hot Chocolate is also making a return by popular demand.
The coffee shop chain is known and loved for its limited-edition seasonal menus each year / Credit: Costa
If you fancy tucking into a hearty festive feast to go along with your limited-edition drinks, then this year’s new food range includes the Pigs and Blankets Toastie, which features succulent pork sausage and maple cured bacon, with caramelised onion chutney, all in tempting garlic, onion and sage crumbed cheese-topped bread, and the Honey Roast Ham and Wensleydale Ciabatta with British Honey roast ham and Wensleydale cheese, mature Cheddar and honey, and béchamel sauce, all packed into a cranberry ciabatta.
For a quick snack lunch, there’s also Melton Mowbray Pork Pies, and a new festive-themed Sausage Roll – which has seasoned pork sausage meat, pulled pork, and divine Bramley apples in an all-butter puff pastry, topped with a wonderful festive pastry star.
ADVERTISEMENT
And then, back for another year is the Brie Bacon and Cranberry Panini, the Brie and Cranberry Toastie, the Turkey and Trimmings Toastie, and the Turkey Feast Sandwich.
For the plant-based and vegan customers, there’s a new Vegan Turkey and Trimmings Toastie made up of vegan turkey with stuffing, yummy cranberry sauce, vegan mayonnaise, vegan gravy, all in toasted white bread.
There’s sticky toffee pudding lattes, pigs in blankets toasties, and loads of returning festive favourites / Credit: Costa
For those with a sweet tooth, there’s some new indulgent cakes and biscuits too, including the Belgian Chocolate Ganache Cake, the Sticky Toffee Loaf Cake, the Christmas Cake Slice – which is suitable for vegans – and to finish off, the Polar Bear Gingerbread Biscuit and Christmas Tree Shortcake Biscuit.
Of course, there’s a bunch of returning treats too, such as the Terry’s Chocolate Orange Muffin, and the Gingerbread Muffin, to accompany your drinks, as well as the White Chocolate Trillionaire’s Slice, and the Crispy Festive Wreath.
On top of that, both the All Butter Mince Pie, and the Gluten-Free Vegan Mince Tarts, are back for another year too.
The 2023 Christmas menu will be available at all Costa branches and Costa self-serve machines nationwide, and will begin its roll-out from Thursday 2 November.
Featured Image – Costa
Trending
Tesco are introducing ‘VAR-style’ self-checkouts in the UK
Danny Jones
Many people think VAR has already gone too far and want it gone from football full stop, and we’re here to tell you that you’re a fool; your hopes are in vain, and the technology is only going to become more common as time goes on. Sorry.
So much so, in fact, that Tesco look are bringing in their own virtual referee into self-checkout systems in shops. You could say the ‘game’s gone…’
Of course, we’re being a bit flippant here, but if you have seen ‘VAR’ and ‘Tesco‘, you’re not seeing things: this is genuinely a thing that is being rolled out here in the UK, with video footage of the supermarket chain’s next self-checkout technology going viral online.
Thought you’d got away with sneaking an extra little something in the bag without paying? Think again.
— UB1UB2 West London (Southall) (@UB1UB2) May 28, 2025
We’ll admit, this was the first time we’d come across the technology, but as it turns out, the updated self-checkout service has been in place for a while.
Similar VAR checkouts have already been installed at other retailers, Sainsbury’s and ASDA, although some reports claim that while stores capture footage of shoppers to check if they’ve scanned all of their items, it is thought that not all of these self-service tills show a playback when an error is detected.
Although this particular speculation has sparked some uproar and debate online, many have quite rightly pointed out that CCTV records your movement in any given shop.
Regardless, it’s fair to say that aside from the obvious memes and people poking fun at the new system, many on social media have shared some pretty strong opinions on the matter.
Not that it matters much – it’s likely this will soon become increasingly the norm, with the likes of Sainsbury’s having already introduced barriers which require customers to scan their receipt in order to leave at branches such as the site on Regent Road Retail Park over in Salford.
As yet, it’s unclear how many of these new self-service tills are in operation and whether they are limited to larger supermarket locations of their Express convenience stores, but don’t be surprised if you come across one.
Put simply, if a barcode isn’t registered before being put on the scale and/or set aside to be packed away, the Tesco till will read: “The last item wasn’t scanned properly. Remove from bagging area and try again.”
Addressing these new VAR-style checkouts in an official statement, a company spokesperson said: “We are always looking at technology to make life easier for our customers.
“We have recently installed a new system at some stores which helps customers using self-service checkouts identify if an item has not been scanned properly, making the checkout process quicker and easier.”
What do you make of the new Tesco and their new VAR self-checkout technology?
Ruben Amorim reacts as Manchester United are booed off after Malaysia friendly
Danny Jones
Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim has delivered a fairly brutal response after his club were booed off by supporters during a friendly in Malaysia.
The Red Devils recently embarked on a post-season tour following a calamitous 2024/25 campaign, both domestically and continentally, with that limp loss in the Europa League final, but have already resumed what has become alarmingly normal service with yet another defeat.
Finding themselves on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline against ASEAN All-Stars in Kuala Lumpur – a squad comprised of various talents from around the region who had never played together before and were only founded as an actual team back in 2014 – it was all far from clean slates and fresh starts.
In the wake of the shock result, Man United were booed off by the Malaysian and other international fans inside the Bukit Jalil National Stadium, which saw more than 70,000 in attendance.
It’s the end and that’s it. Man United got boo’ed by the fans after the final whistle.
They got beaten by non-full team Asean All-Star who just trained together as a group few days before the match. pic.twitter.com/fBxnMiZPN8
For context, the ASEAN All-Stars had only trained together for the first time just days before the game itself, but the de facto exhibition outfit still managed to break the deadlock in the 71st minute against a United side that rarely looked like scoring.
All that being said, Amorim had some choice words for his own players in his post-match duties after their first post-season tour fixture, insisting that while he always remains accountable, those out on the pitch perhaps received somewhat of a deserved reckoning too.
He began by stating, “I’m always guilty of the performance of the team, no matter what. [I have been responsible] since the first day”, but went on to argue: “The boos from the fans, I think it something that we need, maybe.”
Citing that the Old Trafford faithful and die-hard away fans have always been loyal and supportive despite frustration in the league, he suggested that “maybe they will change the way they behave” following this latest reality check.
Despite adding that he has seen reasons for optimism in performances against Man City and Liverpool, for instance, where he felt he saw “belief” and seeds of what’s to come, he’s made very few excuses for the poor displays up to now.
United face the Hong Kong national team in their next friendly on Friday, 29 May, and it’s fair to say anything less than a win would be beyond bad for the predictably unpredictable Premier League club.
You can see his full post-match press conference down below.
Emily Sergeant -
27th October 2023 
